By SEAN AXMAKER, SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, May 10, 2001

Somewhere in the possibilities between the documentary and the concert film beats "Calle 54," Fernando Trueba's celebration of Latin jazz.

While it will surely bring to mind Wim Wenders' "The Buena Vista Social Club," another documentary that introduced American audiences to the major names of a genre of world music, Trueba's approach is more of a cross between video album and a series of intimate concerts for the camera.

As he explains in the opening frames of his film, this is his attempt at "filming the magic of music."

Perfunctory introductions are photographed in dull, color-deprived digital video, but the film leaps from the gray "real world" of the artist at home (more often than not New York state, an odd fact never remarked upon) to vivid portraits of the artist at work and play.

As we pass through a series of simple but boldly colored studios, where each performer is dressed to match a unique backdrop, Trueba seems to be insisting that music lights up the drab world we live in

In one of the high energy highlights, Tito Puente whoops and dances and beats out the backbone of the hopping big band number "New Arrival," his ensemble in sharp white suits against a creamy backdrop. There are 12 full-length performances in all, spotlighting the music of bandleader and composer Chico O'Farrill (whose tux-clad ensemble gets a handsomely photographed black-and-white segment), Gato Barbieri, Paquito D'Rivera, Bebo Valdes and Cachao, among others.

Trueba's camera doesn't indulge in showboating moves or editing tricks. The beat inspires his cinematic energy, and his dedication to the "magic" of music focuses his camera not on the famed bandleaders but on the collaboration of musicians, the energy of their performances and passion of their playing.

According to the director, this isn't a documentary as much as "a musical about music." It lacks history, background and cultural roots, but it's undeniably infectious. I found my head nodding, my foot tapping, and my body itching to get up and move to the music.